Why Batman: The Animated Series Remains One of the Best Dark Knight Tales | Features

Perhaps the most notable talent you wouldn’t expect from a show like this is Mark Hamill as The Joker. Best known for the clean-cut heroism of Luke Skywalker, Hamill’s Joker was an early fan favorite. A last-minute replacement for Tim Curry (who would go on to voice characters on this series and Disney’s similarly excellent “Gargoyles”), Hamill’s vocal performance is a malevolent force of nature that never forgets the pathetic absurdity at the root of the character. The live action movies go to increasing pains to present The Joker as a dangerous, profoundly evil explosion of pure Id. But because “Batman: The Animated Series” is a cartoon show for children, it becomes clear that this Joker is dangerous because he’s also a big ridiculous buffoon, a clown who commits circus-themed crimes using the remarkable number of abandoned amusement parks and toy factories Gotham has lying around. Hamill voices him to the hilt, full of show business brio that turns on a dime to vindictive cruelty. He’s unpredictable, the very best thing a Joker can be. 

“Batman: The Animated Series” was unusually sympathetic to its rogues gallery, especially in Bruce/Batman’s on-again, off-again romance with Selina Kyle aka Catwoman. Adrienne Barbeau brought an arch but warm knowingness to her Selina. A socialite by day, jewel thief by night in this version of the character, she’s a great match with Bruce/Batman. There’s a gives a frisson to their inability to be together, due to his refusing to look the other way on her criminal activities. Barbeau’s line readings have a longing in them, and her scenes with Batman always involve Kevin Conroy dropping his Batman voice from its intimidating gruffness into something more human, more capable of being wounded by the one person he wants but cannot have. 

That kind of sympathy extended to minor villains, who were so transformed by this series they often were introduced back into the comics with their new backstories. Clayface was a third-tier villain who, depending on the continuity, was either a B-movie actor who put on a monster suit or a treasure hunter who found a special pool that gave him shapeshifting powers. But in “The Animated Series” he was an actor disfigured in a car accident, who hides damage thanks to a miraculous skin cream with terrible side effects. He ends up falling into a vat of the stuff and in the way of comic book stories becomes Clayface, a being that can shape itself into any form, human or inhuman. Ron Perlman turns in terrific work as the doomed man, desperation cracking his voice as he begs for the thing that saved his career, knowing it’s also the thing slowly ruining his life. Post transformation Perlman lets loose with malevolent cackles in deciding to reject the scraps of humanity left in him. 

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